Crayon Monogram & Pencil Roll

 

Keeping with the letter S for another teacher crayon monogram gift this school year.

Lettering is black vinyl in the font Leftovers.  The frame is from Walmart.  I used hot glue again this time.

 

And, another colored pencil roll, haven't made one of these since the Fall I think.

Fabric from Hobby Lobby and  24 crayola colored pencils.

Halloween Decor 2012

 

 

This is the extent of our Halloween decor this year.  These two things.

And the occasional plastic spider ring.

 

 There is a bin fairly accessible in the storage unit marked Fall/Halloween, but I've decided for now to leave it alone.  Maybe it's 'cause I'd have to pack it up to the third floor and back down and then over to the storage unit again.  Or maybe because it's nice to be simple once in awhile.   I know I'll be getting into the Christmas bin though.   It will be interesting to dejunk after not using so many of our things for so many months when we unpack in the Spring. I am missing some of my recipes & recipe books that were packed up.  You have to understand that when we first started packing up our house we hadn't decided to build a house for sure and thought we might be into a house in just two or three months.  So I am very grateful for all the things I do have access to.  Having access to my sewing stuff is a big one.  And friends who let me borrow mod podge so I don't have to buy another jar of it.

 

Right now I am weeding vinyl to make about 15 of the framed happy haunting craft for a craft group tonight.  We are also going to sew hooded towels.  It's fun to be creative with friends.

Weaver String Art

I finished this string art for hubby today to take to his office.  I actually meant to make it for Father's Day, but things got a little busy.  I also decided to find a different frame from the first one I brought home.  This frame is from walmart and I used cork with foam board behind it for the backing.  I also glued the original back on that came with the frame to make it look more finished on the back.  My fingers were a bit tender after pushing all the nails in. Before the string was added I stood looking at all the nails wondering what on earth was I doing and what was it going to look like.  But I think it turned out okay, not too embarrassing to hang up at work, right?  I got the idea after a friend B* pinned some string art on pinterest earlier in the year.

A grandfather is...

My SIL (she's in Utah, we're in Texas) called me up Thursday wondering if I thought we could get something like this put together for our FIL in time for Father's Day/his birthday.  Well, I'm happy to show you we did!

The frame opening is 12x24 (from Hobby Lobby) with a cream mat board for the background and foam board for the backing.  The pictures are 3x5's mounted on foam board so that they stand out from the background. The grandfather saying is brown vinyl in the font gabriola.  I tried to snap a decent photo of it in the lovely evening, indoor lighting in my living room.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and am excited to give it to my FIL tomorrow.

Framed Crayon Monograms

K* and I made these for her and S*'s teachers as a Christmas gift this year.  We used hot glue instead of the tacky glue I used last time.  Don't know which is better, but this time the glue was dry.  I used the font Leftovers for their names.

See my first crayon monogram post here.

Framed Christmas Countdown

I made this based on a framed countdown I saw in a JoAnn holiday flyer.  I happened to already have the super cute Christmas paper and embellishments from last year (I believe by My Minds Eye).  I came across them while organizing my craft "mess" a few weeks ago.  And this was major organizing, like pull everything out, dejunk, sort, reorganize.  We don't have any spare rooms not even an office, so it all lives in our bedroom or closet and it had reached a point where things were scattered in various areas making it hard to stay on top of what was where and what I really had and I needed to get rid of a few things.  I actually didn't remember I had the cute embellishments, just the paper.  There is subtle glitter on some of the red on the paper and the embellishments.  So all I needed was a black frame on sale.  I used a square 10"x10" frame from Michaels.  Once I sat down to make it, it was fast & easy.  I wasn't sure whether to use red or white vinyl for the "days til Christmas" wording.  Still not sure.  I guess I can always change it, I did cut the white out too while I was cutting the red.  I think the font is leftovers.  I finally got to use some of the chalkboard vinyl I bought earlier this year for the circle.  So far, it seems to erase nicely each day. The paper is under the glass and everything else is on top of the glass.

happy HAUNTING

Idea from here and here.
Made three of these recently.  Vinyl shapes by Deena Rutter are from here.  Cut the vinyl out with my silhouette.  For this one, I used paper from Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket.  I used various Halloween papers I had for the other two.  The vinyl is on the front of the glass and the paper is modpodged onto the back of the glass.  The frame is from Walmart ($3).  After riping the back off, I hot glued the glass in place (hope it holds).  Another easy crafty project once you have all the supplies.  Seriously, picking out paper (and fabric) can take me longer than making the actual thing sometimes.

On top of all my other projects I have piled up/stashed away, I have a Rapunzel Tangled costume to sew, a Halloween skirt or two to sew, a wooden witch hat from the wood connection in Utah to finish and this batty wreath found here on Carina Gardner's website.  I think I have most of the supplies I need, I just need to get going.  I did have my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I'm not back to my usual self yet, dry socket on the right side is no fun.

Framed Crayon Monogram

While browsing blogland for teacher gift ideas, I came across this one here using crayons and knew I had to make it for K* preschool teachers.
I ran out to the store while both kids were at school and found black frames on sale at Hobby Lobby and bought crayons at target in case I didn't have enough at home in my stash. I printed the S and M in like 450 size font and lightly traced them with a pencil onto the textured card stock we were using. I used a knife and scissors to cut the crayon tips off, mainly the knife I think. If I scored one side a bit and then rotated the crayon, it cut pretty cleanly. I used tacky glue so that K* could help, I read on some blogs that they used hot glue. I maybe should have used hot glue, after 15 hours+ ours weren't dry yet. Must be the humid climate we live in. Some letters of the alphabet are definitely more crayon monogram friendly. I used my silhouette to cut the teacher's names out of black vinyl with the font pea kels bells.

I had planned to make marker vases for some mini carnations that K* picked out at the store, but I didn't have enough markers or colored pencils or crayons for obvious reasons (and didn't want to run back to the store). The plan was to use a rubber band and some ribbon to hold the markers around a small glass vase. Then, they could use the markers next year. Luckily, I remembered these plastic craft paint cans I bought at Michael's last year and never used. I cut the pretty designs out of vinyl meant to look like etched glass with my silhouette. This is the first time I've used this kind of vinyl and I really like how it looks. I may be putting snowflakes on every window and mirror at Christmastime this year. It was hard to get a good picture though. Hopefully, her teachers will have some use for a plastic paint can.

The finished product!

Funny comment: When my son, S*, came home from school and saw what we were doing, he exclaimed, "That's the biggest waste of crayons ever!!". I thought it was pretty funny. And since when is he worried about "wasting" something? Kids are fun.

See my second crayon monogram post here.